December 2025 – My WordPress Site

Image of Dracula's Chivito captured by Hubble's WFC3 instrument

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar

Hubble Reveals The Largest Chaotic Birthplace of Planets Yet Discovered

by Keith CowingDecember 31, 2025December 31, 2025

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have imaged the largest protoplanetary disk ever observed circling a young star. For the first time in visible light, Hubble has revealed the disk is unexpectedly chaotic and turbulent, with wisps of material stretching much farther above and belowthe disk than astronomers have seen in any similar system. Strangely, […]

ROV image of a partially collapsed gas hydrate mound in the Molloy Deep (Freya mounds). The mound hosts frenulate worms and crustaceans. Photo: UiT / Ocean Census / REV Ocean

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

The Deepest Gas Hydrate Cold Seep Ever Discovered In The Arctic

by Keith CowingDecember 31, 2025December 31, 2025

The Astrobee and Project CIMON (Crew Interactive MObile companioN) robots had their first photo shoot in space after more than two years of working separately aboard the International Space Station. -- NASA (source)

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Exploration Gear & Tech, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Tricorders & Sensors

Tricorder Tech: Space AI: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Space to Improve Life on Earth

by Keith CowingDecember 31, 2025December 31, 2025

Distribution of hits (circles) and events (stars) over frequency and drift rate. The marker size gives the S/N. The gray-shaded regions show ranges not sampled, including narrow notch filter regions in the L and S bands. The color-shaded regions give the range of drift rates expected from Earth’s orbital motion and rotational motion and 3I/ATLAS’s rotation at each of the four observing bands. These regions do not perfectly align between bands due to 3I/ATLAS’s radial acceleration changing during overhead time between observations. No events lie in the expected drift rate regions. -- astro-ph.IM

Astronomy & Telescopes, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Intelligence & Language, Interstellar, SETI & Technosignatures

Breakthrough Listen Observations Of 3I/ATLAS With The Green Bank Telescope at 1-12 GHz

by Keith CowingDecember 31, 2025December 31, 2025

Surviving rapid inward orbital migration is a crucial aspect of formation models for the Jupiter's Galilean moons. (Source)

Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Io, Jupiter

Not Just Gas: How Solid-Driven Torques Shaped the Migration of the Galilean Moons

by Keith CowingDecember 31, 2025December 31, 2025

H–R diagrams for the binary systems HD 130669, HD 184467, HD 191854, and HD 214222. The positions of the individual stellar components (A and B) are plotted with their respective uncertainties. Evolutionary tracks corresponding to different stellar masses are shown by black lines, while the system’s best-fitting isochrone (age) is indicated by a red dotted line. The Zero-Age Main Sequence (ZAMS) is depicted as a thick solid black line. These diagrams were constructed using the evolutionary models to determine the masses and ages of the components based on their effective temperatures and luminosities. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy

Precise Physical Parameters, Habitability, and Orbital Stability of Sun-like SB2 Systems: HD 130669, HD 184467, HD 191854, and HD 214222

by Keith CowingDecember 31, 2025

Pan-evolutionary analysis for identifying conserved gene clusters and karyotypes. (A–C) Microsynteny analysis among deep ocean organisms. Circos plot for distribution and visualization of microsynteny blocks between two deep ocean organisms. - HKUST

Analog Studies, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

HKUST Launches World’s First Deep-sea Multi-omics Resource Platform Empowering Global Research Into Biological Adaptation In Extreme Environments

by Keith CowingDecember 30, 2025December 30, 2025

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Larger image

Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Curiosity Mars Rover Views A Rock Made Of Sulfur At Snow Lake

by Keith CowingDecember 30, 2025December 30, 2025

Comet Interceptor -- ESA

Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware

Considerations On The Process Of Target Selection For The Comet Interceptor Mission

by Keith CowingDecember 30, 2025December 30, 2025

The prototypical PAS (grass green)-GAF (green)-PHY (dark green)-output module (grey-blue) arrangement of bacteriophytochromes is depicted. The N-terminal segment (NTS, blue) and the PHY tongue (dark green β sheets or blue-green helix) are shown in their light state-dependent conformations. The BV cofactor is colored in orange-red (Pr state) or brown-red (Pfr state). (A) Prototypical Pr resting state. (B) Red light-illuminated non-canonical activated state (IsPadC model) featuring an asymmetric Pr-Pfr heterodimer assembly. (C) Red light-illuminated canonical activated state (AfAgp1 model) featuring a Pfr-Pfr homodimer assembly. (D) Chemical structure of the BV cofactor covalently bound to BphPs. Red light isomerizes the C15 = C16 double bond, causing a D-ring flip and stabilization of the 15E configuration by surrounding residues in Pfr. (E) Spectral characteristics of a non-canonical model phytochrome (IsPadC) with Pr (red) and illuminated state trace (brown-red) with incomplete conversion to Pfr. (F) UV-vis spectrum of a canonical model phytochrome (AfAgp1; data from ref.19) with more complete Pfr formation. -- Cell

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life

Understanding Protein Form And Function Better At TU Graz

by Keith CowingDecember 30, 2025December 30, 2025